Spinach Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

For my husband and I a trip to Brooklyn means stopping at Joe's of Avenue U for some Pane e Panelli a Sicilian dish which is chickpea flour made into patties, fried and then eaten on a roll with some freshly squeezed lemon. It means going to Villabate to get some cartocci or maybe some gelato and most of all it means a stop at Coluccio's and Sons, an Italian market where we stock up on all the goodies we can't find on Long Island.

There we grab some cheeses, pera (a pear nectar), olives, bread and of course pasta. One of our favorites it the spinach and semonlina pasta which is a bi-colored pasta that is best paired with a nice alfredo sauce. We took it one step further and pan seared a little pancetta and tossed that into the sauce as well. The result it heavenly and really one of my favorite dishes ever. 

It's a fairly simple dish to put together and quite honestly the only thing you need to compliment the meal is a nice piece of crusty Italian bread....and maybe some olives and soppressata.

Summer Chicken Bruschetta

Summertime always brings the promise of one of my favorite meals....bruschetta. To some people bruschetta is more of a an appetizer but I prefer it as my actual meal. Whether it be on top of a crusty Italian bread or a breaded chicken cutlet, it's a perfect summer meal to me.

To me bruschetta is perfect as is; tomatoes, basil, a little red onion and some olive oil, but this time I wanted to change it up a bit. My inspiration started by purchasing a fresh out of the oven loaf of bread from Whole Foods. It was a thick crusty Italian bread that was just screaming for me to top it off with some fresh bruschetta. Back at home I realized I had already taken some chicken cutlets out to defrost the night before so I needed to incorporate them into dinner, so I figured why not make a chicken brushetta? It was a major success and got tons of praise from my husband and I can't wait to make it again.